Today’s EB Host: Ted Richardson

Debix - one of the many companies entering the identity theft business - did a study indicating that the fraud alert system mandated by the Fair Credit and Reporting Act doesn’t work as well as it was intended to.

Here is what the New York Times had to say about this:

The Debix study included privacy and consumer rights advocates, as well as data security executives from Citigroup, Charles Schwab, Expedia, Discover Financial and other companies.

Participants were registered for fraud alerts at one credit reporting agency — most at TransUnion, Ms. Fergerson said.

Of the 54 volunteers, 32 received confirmation letters within a week or so — the sign that things worked as they should. But in 22 cases, something went awry.

In 18 cases, the fraud alert was set at only two agencies. In four cases, it took hold at only one.

Note that the credit bureaus are disputing this - stating that this conclusion is “absurd” and the sampling was too small to be effective.

Maybe - we should listen to both parties - and the Federal Trade Commission (who is charged with enforcing this) should do their own “study.”

After all - the important factor in this equation are the millions of people - who are, or might become “victims of identity theft.”

To learn more about the “fraud alerts,” courtesy of the FTC, link here.


fyi: Ted Richardson writes at Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds, which sports one of the longest taglines in blogdom:

This blog primarily is a resource to educate people on identity theft, but it also covers all the various schemes, such as bank (credit and check) fraud, counterfeiting, corporate fraud, organized crime in relation to financial crimes, consumer fraud, insurance fraud, tax fraud, pharming and phishing. The crimes frequently mutate and have become borderless because of the internet. Learn to protect yourself by becoming AWARE.